Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-04-09
DANGEROUS PLACES IN PANS.
The Collars Whore Thieves and MURDER
ers Resort.

ers Resort.
SO we made up o party Of three, and
between | and in the morning we ar
rived at the Central markets. We left
them TO their dreams, and descended by
n narrow staircase into a series Of vaults,
the whitewashsd ceilings Of which were
covered with afabcsques and names writ
ten In black with the smoke of candle.
In one pert OF these vaults group OF mon
wero drinking and singing parodies Of
church hymns. This did not come up to
our expectations, SO we went to "Ia Jeune
France" famous cellar, where man
had been assassinated only few nights
before. We passed through gate, down
ono flight Of morrow stairs, then STOPPING
low, we passed under narrow archway
reserved in the foundations Of the house,
then down another flight of stairs, then
through another archway, along tortu-
GUS passage, and so to n tunnel about
seven feet high, five feet broad, and twenty
feet long. The vault Of the roof was COW
cred with green trelliswork there were
benches and rush stools to sit upon;
wooden tables bearing the marks Of strife;
and, TO light us, two gas Jets. We wero
here at the very end of the mouse trap,
and we now understood why the police
never enter these ''cayeauxn-there Is no
possibility of fair fight.
When we entered the "caveaun there
was nobody there, but after we had
ordered some wine two musicians came
In. The one was a miserably pale fellow,
half starved and half blind, with n thin
blonde mustache. He sang and accom-
panied himself by striking few chords
on q guitar. The other was o short, bony
man, with u black beard, drunken blue
eyes, round shoulders and an appearance
of humility, as If be were constantly afraid
OF receiving kicks. He sang in turn,
STUNNING on a single bass chordS The
tip given by some watcher soon brought
four other visitors-a burly ruflian, who
wore huge red fez rising eighteen inches
above his crown; young man wearing u
thin cotton blouse and two others dressed
in cast of clothes of fashionable cut, but
without vestige of linen. The humble
musician sang, above all things, an dir
from ''Mignon, y keeping his eyes fixed on
the ground as he sang and pointing TO his
heart with an awkward gesture whenever
the word "heart' occurred in the ro-
nance. Suddenly, one after another, half
dozen athletic, square shouldercd men,
varying in age from II TO 25, crept through
the ne1row archway, passed rapidly in
without even glancing at our table and
massed themselves at the end of the vault,
lolling ON the benches, smoking cigarettes
and drinking at our expense, for we
thought it only polite to offer these gentle
lncn glass of wine, the more so as the
musicians were playing for our amuse-
ment.
After "Mignon" the ruflian with the
red fez asked for the guitar, took tuning
fork out or his pocket, snapped IL with his
teeth, and tuned the instrument properly.
Then the ruflian in the cotton blouse rose
and with fine voice, perfect sentiment, and
correct gesture, sang other airs from
"Mignon' and also from 'Carmcn." All
the rufllans listened in perfect silence to
the singer, who was q real artist, and two
women who had joined the band melted
into tears at the end, one Of them exclaim-
| ing: "Ah, musicl When hear 'Mignon'
| | can't help it. / cry like calf.n The
scene appeared to be idyllic rather than
brigandish and terrible However, il ap
| pearcd after after ell that we might have
been in better company, for ut sign from
tho waiter ! slipped out of the vault
''You had better give the word to you
friends to come up stairs. The band is
almost au complet, and 1t is the very band
that assassinated a man here last week
| If their chief happens to come in yor
might get in trouble.n We did not wait
| to be warned twice, but wished the gen
tlcmen good evening, and assembled the
staircase without undue precipitation, and
4. -
rapidity .-Paris Cor. New York Sun.